1. We must have a REAL DESIRE to change.
2. We must have the POWER to change.
ROMANS 7:15-18
15 I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I
can’t. I do what I don’t want to - what I hate. 16 I know perfectly well that
what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with
these laws I am breaking. 17 But I can’t help myself because I’m no longer
doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these
evil things. 18 I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful
nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn I can’t make myself do
right. I want to but I can’t.
ROMANS 7:19-21; 24-25
19 When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I
do it anyway. 20 Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, it is plain where
the trouble is: sin still has me in its evil grasp. 21 It seems to be a fact of life
that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 24 Oh,
what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from this life
dominated by sin? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our
Lord.
2 CORINTHIANS 3:18
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled
face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from glory
to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
PHILIPPIANS 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not
only in my presence, but now much more in my absence –
continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to
fulfill his good purpose.
a) Your thinking should change.
b) Your desires should change.
COLOSSIANS 3:1-2
1 Since, then, you have been raised with
Christ, set your hearts on things above, where
Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set
your minds on things above, not on earthly
things.
3) We must be willing to PAY THE COST to change.
LUKE 8:26-28
26 So they arrived in the region of the Gerasenes, across the lake from
Galilee. 27 As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man who was
possessed by demons came out to meet him. For a long time he had
been homeless and naked, living in a cemetery outside the town. 28 As
soon as he saw Jesus, he screamed and fell down in front of him. Then
he shouted, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most
High God? Please, I beg you, don’t torture me!”
LUKE 8:29-32
29 For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him.
This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even when he was placed
under guard and put in chains and shackles, he simply broke them and
rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon’s power.
30 Jesus demanded, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, for he
was filled with many demons 31 The demons kept begging Jesus not to
send them into the bottomless pit. 32 There happened to be a large herd
of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby, and the demons begged him to let
them enter into the pigs. So Jesus gave them permission.
LUKE 8:33-35
33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the
entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned.
34 When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby town and the
surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. 35 People
rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around
Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He
was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they
were all afraid.
LUKE 8:36-37
36 Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the
demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 And all the people in the
region of the Gerasenes begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone,
for a great wave of fear swept over them. So Jesus returned to the boat
and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake.